Death toll from Pakistan monsoon rains, floods tops 100

Punjab’s monsoon season usually lasts until September, and more rain is expected this week.Heavy rains and flooding in Pakistan have killed at least 107 people, injured 344 others and damaged hundreds of homes since the start of the monsoon season in June, authorities said, warning of more downpours later this week.The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) told local media on Sunday that the death toll from rain-related incidents since late June has reached 107.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Monsoon-driven flash flooding kills at least 20 in Afghanistanlist 2 of 3‘Collapsed’: Roadblocks, internet blackout leave Pakistani Kashmir in limbolist 3 of 3Car bomb attack kills 27 in northwest Pakistanend of listKhyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded the highest number of deaths, 55, followed by Punjab with 36.More than half of the deaths were caused by house or roof collapses, the NDMA said.In Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab and Pakistan’s second-largest city, authorities have set up at least 17 flood relief camps to house evacuated residents, the Dawn newspaper reported.An unnamed senior official at the Punjab Irrigation Department told Dawn on Saturday that the situation was “very alarming”, with “a vast area of around 400sq km [154sq miles]” now under water across the Lahore and Gujranwala divisions of Punjab.The official said, “The current situation resembles an inland sea because of the vast expanse of floodwater.”Punjab’s Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif said on X that emergency responders had been deployed across the province and that teams were actively working to drain floodwaters.The Pakistan-meteorological-department" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="172175" data-entity-type="organization">Pakistan Meteorological Department said on Sunday that no “flood-generating activity is expected” until Tuesday, though “a fresh wet spell is likely to commence” from Wednesday in upper catchments of all big rivers in Islamabad, upper Punjab, Pakistan-administered-kashmir" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="142485" data-entity-type="location">Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Gilgit-Baltistan.